SUBURBS’ WIN COULD BE TURNING POINT
SOUTHERN Suburbs have maintained pace with the top five after the Cockatoos rebounded with a hardfought 28-16 win over arch rivals Edmonton Storm on Saturday.
Back-to-back tries to Kody Oliver and Rhys Hanlon midway through the second-half were enough for the Cockatoos to leapfrog the Storm and get within four points of the fifthplaced Yarrabah Seahawks.
After a tumultuous couple of months, in which Suburbs won just one of their last seven games, the victory could prove a trigger in their campaign, as it keeps their finals hopes alive while all but ending that of their CDRL rivals.
“It was backs against the wall for us, for our season,” Suburbs coach
Paul Stevens said. “I think the last month or so we’ve been playing pretty good footy, but just haven’t been getting the results.
“Last week, we were down on troops, guys pulled out on the day, and we’ve had some bad injuries, so I think this is a really good win for the club and can set a standard.
“We’ve tried to make it about standards, where guys have got to train and earn their A-grade jumper, and I think they’re starting to learn and understand that. We’ve just got to keep winning games of football now."
Suburbs centre Kody Oliver showed blistering pace with a lengthof-the-field effort in the second half.
The speedster swooped onto an errant Storm pass on his own try line and hit the burners to leave the Edmonton chasers in his dust.
“He was in the halves earlier in the year and we were sort of struggling for some pace out wide, so we made the shift and pushed him out to the centres,” Stevens said.
“He’s obviously defended at half, so defending out in the centres is not that much different for him, but he just adds that bit of speed for us.
“He’s got some speed to burn, so it was good to see him get some clear running and show what he can do.”
Suburbs junior Elijah Wallis showed plenty of promise in his A-grade debut, while Jai Watson was solid at fullback on his return from injury.
The coach also praised Chris Galea, who got through a mountain of work in an 80-minute stint, shifting between lock and hooker.
“He made a lot of metres for us and tackled his ring out,” Stevens said.
He said there were still areas his side needed to improve with a tough run home, where they will play three teams that sit above them on the ladder in the final five rounds.
“It’s our concentration at times,” Stevens said.
“We’ll just slip out of the game, and it can only be for like a 5-10 minute period, but teams are hurting us in that period. We’ve been doing a few things at training to try and stop that, and I think it is getting less and less, but it’s just about being patient.”
Suburbs also reclaimed the Ryan Deemal Memorial Shield, which the clubs have played for annually since 2009 and is named in honour of the son of former Cairns and North Queensland representative player and Southern Suburbs and Edmonton Storm coach Harry Deemal.